River Haven

Chapter 17

The next morning, Roman was woken up by William pouring a large bucket of ice cold water on him.

"What the hell, Will?" Roman asked.

"Your breakfast is ready. Get downstairs." William told him seriously.

Roman sat there in bed for a moment soaking wet.

When he finally got downstairs for breakfast, William seemed to be in a bit of a mood.

"That girl is a bad influence." William told him.

Roman let out a sigh and started eating his food.

"She's not that bad." Roman assured him.

William took a big breath.

"Maybe her helping you isn't the best idea." William tried to say.

"She is helping me, William. End of story." Roman told him.

William gave Roman a frustrating look.

"Look I know that you have a big heart, Roman. I'd just hate to see anyone take advantage of that." William told him.

"I know what you think of her and I think you're wrong. She may be helping me with finding out who killed my parents and improving my training but I think maybe she's actually the one that needs my help." Roman explained.

"And how is that?" William asked unbelievably.

Roman played with his food for a moment and thought to himself.

"I think she needs a friend.. someone that she can trust. No one deserves to be that lonely." Roman thought out loud.

William seemed to be getting more and more frustrated.

"I get that you want to help everyone all the time but sometimes people just don't want to be helped. Not everyone wants to be fixed." William told her.

Roman thought that over for awhile as he finished his breakfast.

Outside Bayley house, she and Ricochet were having a rather heated argument.

"You killed someone Ricochet! How could you possible ever think that I would be okay with that?" Bayley asked in tears.

"You weren't supposed to find out-." Ricochet began to say.

"Oh so you ere just going to lie to my face like you've been doing this entire time?" Bayley asked.

"I wasn't lying." Ricochet tried to tell her.

Bayley shook her head at him.

"Why didn't you tell me about your past? About who you were before you came to River Haven?" Bayley asked.

"I don't know.. I was ashamed I guess." Ricochet said.

"How am I ever supposed to trust you again if you can lie so easily to me?" Bayley asked.

Ricochet looked at her helplessly.

"How can I ever feel safe in your arms again knowing what you're capable of?" Bayley asked with an ache in her heart.

"I'm sorry.." Ricochet told her with a crack in his voice.

"So am I.." Bayley said as a tear fell down her cheek.

Ricochet watched in devastation as Bayley walked back inside making it very clear that they were done.

When Renee got into work that morning, she stood behind Phil in the break room as she waited to get a cup of coffee. She was completely expecting Phil to make some kind of smart remark to her but when he turned around all she saw was the bruises on his face. He looked at her almost fearfully and didn't say a word. Renee looked back at him in confusion as he hurried out of the break room.